Harissa + Molasses Roasted Carrots

Harissa is a thing that’s cool at the moment, isn’t it? Have I got it all wrong? It’s so hard to keep up.

This recipe has come about out of a desire to try three things. The first was a roasted carrots recipe from Sabrina Ghayour’s (wonderful, amazing) book Persiana, it’s on page 191 if you have the book at home and want to look it up.

I didn’t have any of the ingredients besides, you know, carrots, but I did have dibs on some leftover harissa in the fridge that I’d been dying to cook with, and some molasses that I was also desperate to muck about with (shout out to Meridian Foods for hooking me up with the molasses!).

The molasses is “pure blackstrap” (nope, neither, I’ll find out later I promise) and I think is one of those cool organic hippie sweeteners? I went into this new relationship pretty much blind, and I think I’m ready to go steady – expect more recipes soon, I’m excited about this ingredient.

The main reason I wanted to cook Sabrina’s roast carrots is because she cut them like this:

It had never occurred to me to do this before, I guess I have a terrible imagination when it comes to carrots – but I promise you I will never roast them any other way again, this is it for me now.

This makes for an awesome side dish, it’s totally vegan which I always think is a nice bonus for no real reason whatsoever, and it’s a really amazing savoury hit. You know how honey + mustard carrots can be a little sweet? This doesn’t have that problem, decent (but not too much) heat from the harissa and barely-there sweetness from the molasses.

Recipe serves one because guys, I’m doing a lot of cooking for one at the moment OK? Just gloss over it. It can be scaled up if you have more friends than me.

Mix the harissa, molasses, salt, pepper and garlic together in a bowl.

Chuck your carrots into a little roasting dish, pour over the harissa mixture and give it a good stir – I used my hands because Jamie Oliver told me to that one time, this isn’t essential but I feel like it got me better coverage.

Roast for 40 minutes, check halfway through and give it a shake to make sure its not sticking but you should be fine.

Serve straightaway if you want but they’re also pretty great at room temperature. It’s 2015, just eat it later if you want, you know?

Serve with whatever. Sharp goats cheese would probably be great. I had them with crispy aubergine and a boat load of hummus but I understand that other people have a need for actual proper meals so that might not work for you.

In the comments, if you like, give me whatever lowdown on molasses you have? I’ve got some learning to do.